- swept the floors
- consolidated some electronics in DS1's room to clear his floors a bit
- vacuumed the rugs
- swept hardwood and tile downstairs
- met my friend for coffee and gift exchange
- home again, wrapped the last (I think) presents
- packed away the wrapping paper, but where DH can find it to wrap my gift
- chatted with mother's realtor about an offer just made on her house
- walked with dog

Still want to:

- talk over what response / counteroffer my mother would like to send and email that
- pack up the cookies and muffins my mother baked for DS1 and DS2 while I was out
- wash the pans (SOOOOO happy I got the 6-muffin tins, they're easier to handle)
- clean the glass in the wood stove door and lay a new fire; too mild for one today though, it's around 40F
- go through the embarrassment of riches in our fridge, pack DH a work lunch, plan and start our dinner
- hang out and stare at our holiday lights
- maybe move our Wise Men; they are lost and wander around the house until Three Kings Day

What is The Kings Day? Sounds interesting!

Today, fit up and had 2 he's without even having to go in and nurse her. SCORE!!!
Made breakfast for hubby and I, got him to work.
Cleaned off some junk piles
Hung my Window garland
Made baby's and my breakfast, ate
Feed the dogs
Showed her the snow
Kept the fire going
Crochet a hat, started another
Supervised the lone sil as she worked on the last subject she had to finish before Christmas, the other two finished Wednesday

Still need to:
Do dishes
Mop
Dust
Clean bathrooms
Wash hubby's clothes and our bedding
Make dinner
Write out the power bill
Write out the Thank You for my great aunt. In Germann, which I sprechen sie nicht. I probably spelled that wrong. Lol

Frequent Auto Correct Victim.

Loving the (mostly) organic country life as a SAHWM . Married to my hubby since '08, Ana born at home 11/12

Three Kings, on Epiphany (January 6) when the Magi arrived to visit Baby Jesus. We have a multi-piece nativity, and one year I just started moving the Wise Men around to simulate their travels. They end up in bookcases, perched on our atlases, even on the bathroom windowsill (rest area).

(Unrelated Nativity story: The star over the manger is also a separate piece, and one year it fell when DS1 bumped it. So he blurts out, "It's just like Revelations!" Welcome to holidays at our house.)

Empty-nesting SAHM to DS1 (1989), DS2 (1992), and an overachieving mother (1930). Married to DH since 1986.

Wow, everyone is so accomplished! how do you all do it? It took tons of energy but I folded the laundry, I didnt even get around to putting it away, its still sitting on the drying rack =) Does entertaining an 18 mos old and 5 yr old count? How about growing 2 new babies, does that count as a daily accomplishment? I guess every day they are still growing is an accomplishment =)

- Tidied up the shoes in the coat closet and pulled out a bunch to donate. We can actually find the shoes we wear now!

- Put out fresh hand towels in the bathroom.

- Cleaned up the diaper bag/toddler go-bag.

- Put all of the wrapping paper and supplies into the new organizer I bought on Thursday (30% off Christmas clearance has already started at Target! So if you need organizers, lights or lighting accessories, you can find a good deal pre-Christmas).

- Pulled down some jars I'm going to use to make soy candles for Christmas hostess gifts.

Ah, that's a fun way to teach Christmas, and smart kid to relate the star to Revelation!

More smart-ass than smart, he was around 21 at the time. I'm a lapsed Catholic who tries to make the traditions whimsical and affectionate. Both sons have taken lit courses that incorporate Biblical texts, so they have a fine notice and appreciation of even unintended references. I am drawing the line at Four-Horsemen-of-the-Apocalypse-themed decor, though.

Empty-nesting SAHM to DS1 (1989), DS2 (1992), and an overachieving mother (1930). Married to DH since 1986.

Wow, everyone is so accomplished! how do you all do it? It took tons of energy but I folded the laundry, I didnt even get around to putting it away, its still sitting on the drying rack =) Does entertaining an 18 mos old and 5 yr old count? How about growing 2 new babies, does that count as a daily accomplishment? I guess every day they are still growing is an accomplishment =)

Better believe it, 4GB!!!

Some days, my list begins and ends with "Got out of bed." That's without little ones at home any more. And for years, my kids were getting dressed straight out of the dryer. No problem there. :)

Empty-nesting SAHM to DS1 (1989), DS2 (1992), and an overachieving mother (1930). Married to DH since 1986.

Wow, everyone is so accomplished! how do you all do it? It took tons of energy but I folded the laundry, I didnt even get around to putting it away, its still sitting on the drying rack =) Does entertaining an 18 mos old and 5 yr old count? How about growing 2 new babies, does that count as a daily accomplishment? I guess every day they are still growing is an accomplishment =)

Here's my secret - I only post on my good days. ;-)

And I blew off most of my list for this evening, and did the following instead -

- Bath and bedtime with Little Man.

- Put away clean dishes.

- Loaded the dishwasher with dirty stuff.

- Started a blog post, but slacked on finishing it for no good reason.

- Browsed Pinterest.

And now I'm sitting.

Apartment Farm - the chronicles of my cooking, gardening, crafting and other such things.

Gave myself food poisoning! On the last Saturday before Christmas. Epic fail. But the show must go on. At least husband cleaned the kitchen before work, including the oven, so we're all ready for cookie baking this afternoon.

So far -

- Showered and dressed (super unpleasant with an upset stomach).

- Made myself eat a croissant and have some tea for breakfast.

- Organized the Christmas gifts for wrapping. Realized I still need to pick up a gift card for husband's youngest cousin, who's still in high school.

- Wrapped a few gifts.

- Tidied the living room.

- Put Little Man down for his nap.

- Made myself noodles for lunch and made myself eat some. Problem is I'm hungry, but my stomach is still really upset. I hate that!

I need to get up and finish wrapping gifts while Little Man is sleeping, and lay out ingredients for cookies, since that's our activity for the afternoon.

Apartment Farm - the chronicles of my cooking, gardening, crafting and other such things.

Wow, everyone is so accomplished! how do you all do it? It took tons of energy but I folded the laundry, I didnt even get around to putting it away, its still sitting on the drying rack =) Does entertaining an 18 mos old and 5 yr old count? How about growing 2 new babies, does that count as a daily accomplishment? I guess every day they are still growing is an accomplishment =)

Yes it is, you keep growing those babes. I was exhausted when I was pregnant, and I just had one little 6 pounder.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MariaMadly

More smart-ass than smart, he was around 21 at the time. I'm a lapsed Catholic who tries to make the traditions whimsical and affectionate. Both sons have taken lit courses that incorporate Biblical texts, so they have a fine notice and appreciation of even unintended references. I am drawing the line at Four-Horsemen-of-the-Apocalypse-themed decor, though.

Okay that really had me laughing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kitchensqueen

Gave myself food poisoning! On the last Saturday before Christmas. Epic fail. But the show must go on. At least husband cleaned the kitchen before work, including the oven, so we're all ready for cookie baking this afternoon.

So far -

- Showered and dressed (super unpleasant with an upset stomach).
- Made myself eat a croissant and have some tea for breakfast.
- Organized the Christmas gifts for wrapping. Realized I still need to pick up a gift card for husband's youngest cousin, who's still in high school.
- Wrapped a few gifts.
- Tidied the living room.
- Put Little Man down for his nap.
- Made myself noodles for lunch and made myself eat some. Problem is I'm hungry, but my stomach is still really upset. I hate that!

I need to get up and finish wrapping gifts while Little Man is sleeping, and lay out ingredients for cookies, since that's our activity for the afternoon.

How did you manage food poisoning? Feel better!

Today, got up later than I've been, really tired though. We got up and went to Walmart, a sports store and his sister's house. I crochet there and back.
We got home, I put most of the stuff away and made dinner. I packed his lunch for work, then we ate. Now I'm on my butt feeling lazy.

Frequent Auto Correct Victim.

Loving the (mostly) organic country life as a SAHWM . Married to my hubby since '08, Ana born at home 11/12

I ate some leftovers from the back of the fridge... I should've known better. If you can't remember when you first cooked it, throw it out! But it smelled okay, I was tired and feeling lazy. So now I'm totally paying for it. My stomach is a bit better at this point, but I've got a wicked migraine now. A crawl-under-a-rock migraine. But still... did stuff anyway -

- Put away clean dishes.

- Put some dirty dishes in the dishwasher.

- Little Man and I had a long nap... he's actually feeling a little warm. He didn't eat the same leftovers as me (thank goodness!) so I'm thinking he's coming down with a cold.

- Read stories and watched PBS with Little Man.

- Made two batches of cookies with Little Man - snickerdoodles and soft ginger drop cookies. They're in the fridge for us to bake tomorrow.

- Did the dinner/bedtime routine with Little Man.

Still to do this evening -

- Wrap the last few gifts (or at least the last one for husband, before he comes home from work).

- Sort the laundry so it's ready to wash.

- Tidy up the kitchen from cookie making.

- Do some office work.

But I really just want to go to bed. Sigh. Oh well - I'll make myself another cup of decaf tea and get to it.

Apartment Farm - the chronicles of my cooking, gardening, crafting and other such things.

- brought out a box of clothes that need sorting; set aside a couple pieces to donate

- baked ham and cheese biscuits

- baked a loaf of seitan

- reorganized leftovers

- cooked up a soup from some of them

- babbled Honey-dos at DH*

- took my mother to Mass

- drove down to the airport ninety minutes away to get DS2

- got home, reheated food for people

- took dirty laundry down basement

- washed dishes

* So, do vicarious accomplishments count? DH:

- walked the dog

- hung our wreaths on the upstairs balcony railing

- took out the trash

- took a letter down to our mailbox 1/4 mile down the driveway

- brought various things upstairs / downstairs from where they were to where they belonged

That's just the stuff I asked him to do. He also talked on the phone with DS1 for over an hour and did some other things, but let him get his own user name if he wants that enshrined here. :-)

So great that your kids will be home! That's the best gift. And I say vicarious accomplishments count - it takes effort to coordinate a spouse to do things! ;-)

Had an amazingly productive morning here, despite still having the dregs of yesterday's migraine. It's been down to a dull ache, but man - I am ready to be done with it!

- Dropped husband off at work.

- Filled up the car with gas.

- Stopped at Dominick's to check out the final stuff. My store won't be open tomorrow - it was down to maybe an aisle of stuff, and not a full aisle at that. I did buy some odds and ends - spent about $10 for $40 worth off stuff. I got 2 boxes of canning lids, Ball Fruit Fresh, couple of boxes of pectin, white curling ribbon (I was just running out of it for wrapping Christmas gifts and Little Man spotted it!), Lightning McQueen paper cups, 3 packages of Lightening McQueen paper napkins and a Duraflame fire starter (we use them when camping). We wished everyone good luck and a Merry Christmas - but I think most of them are just tired and want it to be over at this point.

- Went into Dollar Tree for disposable baking pans and gift bags.

- Went into Target to take advantage of 10% off all orders, plus I had some coupons and Cartwheel. I got some additional meat and a few other items. The freezer is full of meat now!

- Popped into Whole Foods for Earth Balance (only because I had coupons!).

- Put two loads of laundry to wash.

- Fed Little Man lunch and put him down for his nap.

- Started the dishwasher.

- Handwashed a few dishes.

- Started turkey noodle soup for lunch.

Now I need to get off here and do some office work while Little Man naps. And then for the afternoon -

- Bake cookies with Little Man.

- Fold and put away the laundry.

- Go to Ikea early to pick up husband from work so I can pick up ligonberries for Christmas and some bags that a coworker asked for.

- Sunday night work prep.

Off I go!

Apartment Farm - the chronicles of my cooking, gardening, crafting and other such things.

Today I went grocery shopping. Amazingly busy -- I'm used to being able to go at quieter times. That's it other than the cycle of heat-food-wash-dishes. Freezing rain today, and getting really cold tomorrow, so the slurp will turn into treacherous glass. Which will be fun, because DH and I both need a car tomorrow and have only one that's reliable on bad roads.

Empty-nesting SAHM to DS1 (1989), DS2 (1992), and an overachieving mother (1930). Married to DH since 1986.

Back to normal, well, normal without the girls for school every day.
We were at the in laws next door most of Christmas Eve and Day. Mostly hung out, exchanged gifts, ate food I didn't have to cook or clean up.

Today started with a bang. At 2:20 this morning. The Carbon Monoxide detector went off. The Wood stove was smoking and just smoldering. There was no wind outside so no suction on the pipe and it baked up into the house. I'm so glad we've had that detector, it'sthethird time in as many years we've used it! So I woke up hubby and Nursed the baby back to sleep. Thank God he had shut or bedroom door and I was too tired to tell him to leave it open for the heat like we normally do. He airred out the house and got the fire blazing hot. I got up and helped air out things and checked the levels in our room. Then when we went to bed, I was awake for thirty min making sure everyone was still breathing. Lol
I got up at 5 to get him off to work, house still smells smokey
Went back to bed with the baby for an hour and a half, could have totally slept longer
Got up and saw he tried to call and tell me to bring him my key bc he locked his in the car
Tried to wake up the in laws, but couldn't. I wasn't volunteering to walk 1/4 mile in the 27* morning, so I didn't.
Called my sister and Mom.
Talked to my sil whose dog had pups over night, she told her Mom that I needed a car or a ride to take his key. She said she'd take me. Like 2 hrs later.
So I got dressed, put in laundry, made stew in the crock pot, cleaned up a bit, and took care of the babe when she woke up.
Then we left. What should have taken an hour tops took two. She had to run see a friend and so at the bank. Grr If she'd told me that I would have had something to eat! Both the baby and I were starved, And she was resisting a nap too so quite crabby.
We got home a bit ago and I fed the dogs and gave them water that wasn't frozen. Outside dogs here!
Then I chopped some potatoes into the stew.
Opened widows to air out the smoke. I want to smell stew, not smoke.
Brought in some wood and got the fire stoked
Tried to get her to nurse to sleep, but she wanted to play
Ate a little, still hungry though. Maybe the magnesium I'm starting to take will help build up my appetite.
Now she's asleep in my lap and I hope it is a nice, long nap. She needs it.

Still need to do laundry and diapers
Make cornbread
Read my Bible
Straighten
I planned to clean the house today, but two hours on the road was NOT in my schedule. Maybe tomorrow.
Take out trash, or better yet, get him to do it later
Put away Christmas gifts, start Undecorating.
List Thank You cards to write
Dishes
RELAX

Frequent Auto Correct Victim.

Loving the (mostly) organic country life as a SAHWM . Married to my hubby since '08, Ana born at home 11/12

You get such good deals! That's the main thing I miss about living in town, being close to the stores. It is a major ordeal to go anywhere, so I usually don't.

I just refuse to pay full retail price for anything! And honestly, it's the only way we can afford to have what we do - get it cheap! It does take a little work - I spent a few hours cruising the deals blogs and websites and clipping coupons each week, but I enjoy it so it doesn't seem like a burden. And I'm glad that my favorite stores are within reasonable driving distance - that helps!

Today was kind of a bust. I'm really feeling the post-holiday letdown and work stress at the moment, so only a few things actually done around home today -

- Loaded dirty dishes into the dishwasher.

- Handwashed some new pans.

- Halfway organized my coupons.

- Tidied the house.

- Started my grocery list.

Still on the goal list for this evening after Little Man's bedtime -

- Order some Valentine's Day cards and note cards on Shutterfly with free codes I have that expire today.

- Work on a Shutterfly calendar (I finally got an "extra" free code so I can make one for myself for my desk at work!) if I'm not Shutterflied out after the cards.

- Finish organizing my coupons.

- Order a Secret Santa gift on Amazon (we're doing our work exchange for New Year's).

- Organize my new sewing box organizer.

We'll see how much of that I actually get done...

Apartment Farm - the chronicles of my cooking, gardening, crafting and other such things.

Today started at 4:30 and hasn't stopped yet. Still don't feel very accomplished.

I got up, made our breakfast, my tea, started laundry, read my Bible, got him of to work.
Then I worked on a new planner for a new year
Started in on my junk room for about half hour before she woke up to nurse almost half hour. Then she "helped" for an hour or so.
Then she Nursed a bit, we did more laundry, made eggs and ate them, fed and waters the dogs, and gave her a bath.
I tried to get her to nap again, she keeps yawning, but is not sleeping.
We worked on the room some more, then my 16 year old sil came over to do the vacuuming m dusting, mopping, bathroom remaining, and help Straighten. She's just finishing. There's still a huge mess where I'm trying to clean the room out and stuff is everywhere.

I still need to make supper, clean the room more- that will take a few days. Straighten what's out (that means shove it all back in the room), take down the garlands and nativities, make the bed, Straighten her toys and whatever else she destroys before hubby's cousin and family come later, clean up after they leave. But for now, I THINK she's going to actually take a nap now....

Frequent Auto Correct Victim.

Loving the (mostly) organic country life as a SAHWM . Married to my hubby since '08, Ana born at home 11/12

Well, I meant to stay in today but husband heard that Star Wars X-Wing Fighters were 50% off a Target, so off we went...

- Stopped at the bank to get quarters for laundry.

- Drove by the forest preserve to see if the elk were out, but they weren't today.

- Went to Target. Husband got his X-Wing Fighters and I picked up a few more clearance items - I got a four pack of Kleenex for $4, a press-in-the-pan sugar cookie mold for $5, flameless votive candles for $5 and a few One Spot items at 70% to squirrel away for Easter baskets and next year's stocking stuffers. Also in the Christmas section I found a 4 pack of Hot Wheels in Christmas packaging for $2, and a 4 pack of Scotch tape for $2. Got a few other little random things at 50% off. Oh, and I picked up two more stacking Sterlite containers at $7 each - a lightbulb when off in my mind after I brought the other two home (one I gave to husband for his miniatures tools and one for me for a sewing gear box). I'm going to use the other two as one for a car box (emergency supplies, toy storage, garden supplies we need for the community garden, etc.) and the other one will go in our camping gear for a portable camp kitchen! Pretty happy about those! Now that January is practically here I've got the organizing bug.

- Got Portillos for lunch and ate as a family at home.

- I ran out to Hobby Lobby solo for an hour of alone time and to pick up more coupon binder pages with my 40% off coupon, but discovered they were marked at 50% off! So I got two and used my coupon on a mini coupon file when I don't want to lug around the big binder. Score!

- Stopped into Dollar Tree to get two free Kraft Recipe Makers to donate to the food bank since I had $1 off coupons. Also picked up two wine bottle gift bags at 50% off.

- Tidied the linen closet and put away the Kleenex and whatnot.

- Put together a bag for the food pantry - the two Recipe Makers, half a dozen canned veggies and a box of gluten-free cookie mix I scored as a free sample.

- Put away the rest of the shopping items.

Still to come this afternoon -

- Take Little Man outside to play since it's so beautiful out.

- Organize my coupon binder properly.

- Do a few loads of laundry.

- Organize the camp kitchen stuff (so it frees up another organizer to use elsewhere).

- Bake some cranberry bread for husband.

- Do some office work for an hour or so later tonight after Little Man goes to bed.

Apartment Farm - the chronicles of my cooking, gardening, crafting and other such things.